Few things are worse than an undesired family member laying down roots in our homes because social expectations stop us from kicking the unwanted guest out. That’s precisely the theme of Tomáš Pavlíček & Jan Vejnar’s She Came at Night (Přišla v noci), a hilarious comedy that still packs quite an emotional punch. Even as the directing duo struggle to find a satisfying ending to their story, the film is still the perfect invitation to laugh about our shared history with inconvenient parents.

She Came at Night follows a young couple who have just started to enjoy their lives together and are postponing any life-changing decisions. While they have their fair share of issues and insecurities, Jirka (Jiří Rendl) and Aneta (Anette Nesvadbová) still have a solid relationship. Or at least they did until Jirka’s mother (Simona Peková) shows up in the middle of the night looking for shelter. At first, Aneta thinks Jirka is too harsh with his mother. However, as the days go by, she starts to understand how unpleasant it is to share a roof with someone who’s the worst guest.

We’ve all had uncomfortable experiences with parents who visit our homes and think they have the right to change our way of life. Parents spend so many years imposing their will on their offspring that many of them can’t help but return to the power dynamics where they give orders to their children. While that can be unnerving in real life, She Came at Night is a delightful comedy that explores all the worst ways a mother can interrupt her son’s life, from emotional blackmail to bursting through the door without knocking when people are trying to have sex.

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Simona Peková’s Performance Holds ‘She Came at Night’ Together
She Came at Night also understands that comedy and horror are closer than most people think, as both genres deal with instinctive reactions to the unexpected. So, while the movie’s primary goal is to make the audience laugh at the increased awkwardness of the situation, Pavlíček and Vejnar introduce gripping nightmare moments in which Aneta must confront how it is terrifying to have her mother-in-law on the loose in her home. Instead of breaking the harmony of the comedy, these scenes reinforce the young couple’s feelings of abuse and anger. Those moments are also vital for the tonal shift She Came at Night takes in the movie’s final act as the film asks the audience to stop laughing and face how brutal the whole situation truly is.

While we all can have quite some fun observing the mother inconveniently taking more space in the home and the marriage, the inappropriate presence of family members can do some severe damage. That’s why She Came at Night slowly sheds its comedy shell to reveal its dramatic purpose. Even with some good jokes spread out over the third act, it’s easier to feel outraged than amused. Unfortunately, the abrupt end of She Came at Night reduces the movie’s lasting impact. There’s undoubtedly something to be said about how family issues can never be fully resolved and will always come back to haunt us. Still, closure would be nice for this story, especially since Peková’s layered performance points towards some sort of resolution.

She Came at Night’s mother cannot be reduced to a simple inconvenience. Otherwise, it would be easier to get rid of her. Instead, the protagonist couple endures repeated aggression due to how lonely and sad the elderly woman truly is. Peková does a wonderful job of giving her character a certain melancholy that makes us want to sympathize with the woman’s pain. And in the end, that’s why we often continue to have relationships with awful family members.

We grow up hearing people say that blood bonds should never be broken, which is why many adults still bend their mental health and throw away the stability of their lives in the name of respecting their parents. Nevertheless, without clear boundaries, parents can harm their children irreversibly. But, of course, it would be a mistake to reduce parents to the role of villains, as many issues can be blamed on generational conflicts and the misplaced goodwill of the older generation to protect and guide the younger one. Peková wraps all of this into a poignant performance that never forgets she’s supposed to put a smile on the audience’s faces. And if She Came at Night is so capable of going from well-timed comedy to dramatic moments, the movie has Peková to thank above anyone else.

Rating: B

She Came at Night had its world premiere at 2023’s Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.